Christy Turlington: Grace Is A “Tough Cookie,” Finn Is “A Mush”

The always beautiful Christy Turlington – model, mother, wife and activist – covers the launch issue of DuJour magazine. In the interview Christy talks about her two true passions: Her family and her work with Every Mother Counts.

Mom to kids Grace, 8, and Finn, 6, with her husband Ed Burns, Christy chatted with DuJour at the family’s home in the Hamptons, where they spend the long, hot east coast summer months: “It’s nice to be out in the fresh air, and for the kids to be barefoot pretty much the whole summer,” she says. “We’re on a sliver of Georgica Pond, so we canoe and paddleboard and do all those kinds of things.”

As for the kids, Christy reveals that Grace, who she says is “like 8 going on 14,” is “a really tough cookie” while little brother Finn is “a real mush.”

While her family is her priority, the 43-year-old mom also devotes a lot of time to her organization Every Mother Counts, which aims to raise awareness about maternal mortality around the world. It was her own frightening childbirth experience – she suffered postpartum hemorrhaging after Grace was born – that prompted her to take action.

“I started doing this work after I gave birth to Grace—that’s very, very clearly why I’m doing this,” she explains. “But I’m also the mother of a son. It’s important to teach him to be aware of women’s issues and to be kind and respectful.”

Though her work with the organization regularly takes her around the globe, Christy says that she makes sure her kids understand where and why she is going.

“I always prepare them when I’m going somewhere. They have a huge map, and whenever I go anywhere it’s like, That’s where I am: That’s sub-Saharan Africa, that’s Bangladesh—and so they’re learning about the world through me and my work. Now that they’re old enough to start going to those places, they’ll be able to visualize it, too.”

They’ll get that chance very soon: Ed and the children will be joining Christy in Tanzania this summer. Though it will be their first family trip to Africa, she has little doubt that they’ll all love it: “I don’t know anyone who hasn’t fallen in love with Africa,” she says.